NeTComFish: Using Nexus Thinking to Empower Community-Based Management of Fishery

The livelihoods of inshore fishermen are threatened by the loss of fisheries productivity due to mangrove destruction in Malaysia. The situation is contributed to mainly by a lack of awareness of both the value of mangrove and mangrove-based fishery resource and local knowledge for managing these. Furthermore, trust and continual engagement between government, community and other resources users is needed for promoting mangrove-based fisheries management. We will apply the nexus thinking to understand the inter-dependencies, tension and trade-off between the mangroves, their fisheries and users.

This project, which is funded by the UK-Southeast Asia Small Scale Research Partnership 2016 (NEWTON-UNGKU OMAR), aims to advance the application of nexus thinking to the sustainable management of fishery resources, set the foundation for community-based fishery management in the mangrove ecosystem and develop a program of environmental education emphasizing the importance of mangroves.

We will collect data via workshops, interviews and discussions then analyse the data with a focus on network analysis, climate & socioeconomic forecasting and ecosystem services assessment. A total of ten deliverables are expected including workshop reports, impact plan, conceptual map, journal papers and educational materials.

What is Nexus Thinking?A new way of thinking that recognizes the interdependencies between different sectors.

We are a group of interdisciplinary researchers from University of Malaya and Plymouth Marine Laboratory with expertise in environmental governance, economics, social sciences, resource planning and marine ecosystems.